During an operation while a patient is under anesthesia the muscles become relaxed and there is a tendency of the eye to open and thereby cause drying out of the eye due to exposure of air as well as drying effect caused by anesthesia. This condition is normally prevented by the use of adhesive bandages. If the eye is allowed to open, because of the dried condition of the eye and the lack of fluid between the inner surface of the eyelid and the outer surface of the eye corneal abrasion can be caused by movement of the eyelid over the eye.
In addition, after an operation on the eye or the muscles surrounding the eye, it is frequently desirable in order to speed healing and/or prevent further damage to the eye to prevent the eye from being opened. In order to accomplish the task of maintaining the eye closed by keeping the eyelids together, medical grade adhesive tape is applied over the closed eye and securing the tape to the outer surface of the eyelids to keep the eye closed. Among the disadvantages of the adhesive tape are that in order to apply any liquids to the eye for facilitating healing, the adhesive tape must be removed. Removal of the adhesive tape often causes not only pain to the eyelids of the person upon whom the tape is applied but also often causes removal of the eyelashes. Even where the tape is only removed once, the removal can be very painful. Where the removal is required often, there can be damage to the eyelids. In addition, when the eye gets too wet and the adhesive tape is loosened it can permit abrasion of the eye by coming in contact with the eye.